LINEAGE
by CI-KiteWolfling-NYPD
Summary: In the Spirit of Halloween, a ghost from Darlene's past springs up with a vengeance, raking at her with dark claws. Our teen CI is forced to contend with her closets full of skeletons, not to mention a father and a way of life she thought she left behind.
1. A Ghost from the past

_A/N This chapter won't make much sense, just keep reading the next chapter, and so on, and you'll get it, alright?_

My cell phone rang.

I tore myself away from my grammar homework, (all those little noun, pronoun, and verb beasties that I have come to consider one of the banes of my existence) with great pleasure. I fished around in my jeans pocket, and pulled my cell from there, rolled over on my back, and flipped it open.

"Roscamp. Talk to me." I said curtly.

"Darlene, you're not going to like this." A flat voice stated emotionlessly.

I blinked at the ceiling, "Elliot! What's going on?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line. Well, even for Ell, a greeting like that was rather morbid. I waited as patiently as I could, and then said gently, "Elliot, what the cheese?"

I heard the guy take a deep breath.

"We found Lobo Rodriguez. He was several sheets to the wind outside of a bar. I don't know what he's doing back in the states, and he's not talking."

I sat straight up, a bunch of ghosts from my past suddenly screaming in my head. All the words I wanted to say welled up inside of me, crying to get past my lips, but I kept them clamped tightly shut. Eventually, all that got out was a weak, "Crap." Then I took another breath, and said calmly, "How can he be back? I thought he was crushed to death when narcotics pulled that raid last year on our old hideout?"

"I don't know, Darlene. He's your father, so we need you to get down here to make a positive ID. He's being processed as we speak. Can you drive down here alone?"

"Sure." I said. Mom wasn't a big fan of my driving on my own, especially since it was October, the month that her husband, who would have been my adoptive father, was killed in a tragic car crash, but she was gone at a cousins wedding, a cousin that I had never met, since I had only been with this new adoptive family for about five months now. I was home alone. With a heavy heart, I rose to my feet. I thought of something before hanging up the phone.

"Have the FBI charged in, wanting to lock him up, yet?"

"Nah. We figure if they want custody of him, they'll come in with guns blazing."

"Wonderful. See you in a few."


	2. Just call me Wolfling

I sat in my Jeep Cherokee, the motor running, frozen, not moving. If you could have peered through the windshield and seen me, you would have seen a dark haired Mexican-American sixteen year old, immobile, features looking as though they had been carved out of stone. Your impression would have been that she was not with us in this world.

The fact of the matter is, you would have been right, I couldn't move. Memories were flooding though my mind, and my blood like wildfire.

_Memories of a past that I thought I had left behind. Memories of a man who had haunted my dreams for years. Memories of a darker shade that would make any shrink flinch._

Lobo Rodriguez 'The Wolf' was my biological father. I don't know who my mother was, but she was probably some woman of questionable virtue with green eyes, not brown, due to the fact that mine are a deep, serene emerald. Rodriguez was your typical gang-banger drug dealer type of man. No-screw that. He was atypical. Probably the vilest piece of crap out there. If shit wore shoes, he would be the shit on the bottom of…..

Anyways, not the nicest guy to grow up with for fourteen years on the dark side of New York, but I managed. After a few years I had learned to ride the beast that was my life, that terrible monster who more than once would leave me crying in an ally, with a gun to my head, praying to whatever God there was in that blanket of stars above to take away my pain…..

No, scratch that. I never learned to ride. I was pulled off before I could do more damage to myself.

The truth is, I was incredibly messed up back then. Rodriguez was the leader of a gang called, the Wolves, and they were a mean bunch. I was a Wolf by default, the unwanted child of the Pack Leader. They called me Wolfling. It was a nickname that I would come to hate. As I sat there in that car, still not moving, my hand involuntarily jumped up to my neck…and tenativly fingered the spot where the Wolven tattoo had been graven into my flesh. I could still feel the pain of the needles on my tender neck when I was seven..

"_AHH_!" I burst out, screaming unnecessarily, and pounded at the steering wheel. Tears were starting to leak out of my eyes unbidden. What was _wrong _with me?

I put the Jeep into gear, and swung her around, and crawled down the

driveway.

_I'm a Wolfling, that's what's wrong with me. _ I thought bitterly.

All this went down before the Narc squad pulled a huge raid on the Wolves Den,

The place that I hade grudgingly called home. Unfortunately, I can still remember it like it was yesterday….

I accidentally ran a red-light, heading downtown. I ignored all the angry beeps, and continued on my way.

Yes, I could still remember the day of the raid.

_Cringing and running as shouts and gunshots echoed and reverberated along the warehouse walls…staggering and choking, fleeing for my life, having no real idea what was going on…_

_And then….._

I resisted the painful urge to squeeze my eyes shut. After all, I was still on the road. Yes, I could still remember with terrible clarity the man who I called father grabbing me, and holding a gun to my head, using me as a shield to get out of the building alive…all the while stepping and sliding on the blood of those who he called friend…

"_Yes_," I can even remember what had been going through my mind at that time, "_Please. Kill me. End it. FOR GODS SAKE END IT_!!"

And then the Lobo was gone. Out of sight, and out of my life…for the time being.

Narcotics got a hold of me, and brought me back to the station to examine me, like I was some sort of exotic animal. I must have fascinated them. I allowed myself a wry grin, Fin had still been with the Narcs back then, and had been the first to question me. Well, I had seen a lot of scarier things than him, and I sure let him know! At the time I was scared, still sweating, and in all, a pile of jello, only on my geet due to a bizarre mixture of pure will, and bravado. Then SVU got joint jurisdiction for the case, since I was suddenly thrown in the midst of things. Narcotics moved me up a floor to have a chat with Elliot and Olivia.

They were much more..uh…easier for me to get along with. They gave me some hot coco, and made sure I was ok before asking me any questions. Eventually it got out that I was The Wolfling, the daughter of the man who got away.

There was a freaking hullaballo, let me say that.

I turned south on Division, and this time made sure that I stopped for the light. As I sat there, I recalled exactly the unique situation I had been in.

Alexandra Cabot wanted to use me at a Criminal Informant, to get more info on other baddies in New York, since there were bound to be a lot of them. Cragen wanted me arrested, Olivia wanted everyone to leave me alone, and let me sleep, Elliot wanted to hunt the bastard down who had reduced me into a trembling, freaked out tower of teen frailty (Ha, Ha, Ell was protective of me even way back then) Fin wanted me thrown in jail, too, and John..well, I honestly don't know what his opinion was.

Anyways, here I am, as a Detective and a Criminal Informant for the New York police department. What a turn around, hey?

I had been given a new adoptive family, Emily Roscamp, a demure Dutch woman with a kind heart. I love her dearly, now, and if anything would ever happen to her because of what I used to be..well, I don't know what I would do with myself.

I pulled into the first parking space I saw at the precinct, for once not caring if it was Munch's or not. I had a feeling that in a few minutes I wouldn't be caring about much, anyways,

I turned the engine off, got outside, and slammed the door.

I stared at my reflection pensively for about thirty seconds, once again, letting my hand stray up to where that blasted tattoo was.

"Just call me Wolfling" I said in a low voice, trying to not to cry.


	3. I'll Show You Scars

I announced my presence at the Station House by letting the door slam shut behind me at a volume level that would have earned me reproach at my own home.

"Ah, Darlene, so nice 'uh you t'join us." Fin drawled from somewhere. I cast about, until I found him. Here he was, trotting down the stairs with that characteristic black leather jacket on, unzipped as usual. I took a closer look, and saw that he had a case file firmly in his grasp, and was heading straight for the filing cabinets on the other side of the room. He arrived, and pulled one of the many drawers opened, and slipped the said file in. Fin's pretty cool. He and I got off to a rough start, but we're pretty tight, now. I made a beeline for him.

"Yeah, I am just so happy to be here!" I called, trying to sound like my normal, rather flippant self. I could see from the sideways glance that Fin shot me..that I wasn't fooling anyone.

"Kid, you look as dead on your feet as you really are." He said with a touch of sympathy in that gruff voice, "I know you don't want to do this…"

I heaved a sigh, "Yeah, I know. Let's just get this thing over with, alright? Where is he?"

"Upstairs, come on." Fin rammed the cabinet shut, and nodded towards the stairs that lead to the upper level. I shuffled my coat off and threw it on Elliot's desk as we went by. There were no donuts or anything around today. I guess that for once, I wouldn't be having a relatively good time here at the sixteenth precinct. I get to have a family reunion.

Up the stairs, down the hall, and there were Munch, Olivia, Elliot, and Huang.

"Hey, nice to see you, Darlene." Olivia said, giving a pathetic excuse for a smile, "So sorry that the circumstances have to suck so badly."

"Is he in there?" I asked tiredly was we approached.

"Naw, we just like standing and looking into an empty interregation room." Elliot said with that sideways grin. It fell in an instant, and he continues in a low voice, "Sorry, kid. I know-"

"It's fine." I said absently. I pushed past the doctor, and peered into the room, beyond the glass.

And there he was. Reading a newspaper.

He looked the same as I remembered, a tall man, wide shoulders, narrow waist, even though I couldn't see that last part, I could remember it. He and I have the same shape of face, rather rounded, yet hawkish in general. Other than that, I am happy to say that I look nothing like him. Yeah..those same dark features…the scar over the one eye..this was my father. This was the Wolf.

"It's him." I stated flatly.

"Darlene." Olivia said, looking at me levelly, putting her hands on my shoulders, "I know how hard this is going to be for you. But Huang wants you to go in and talk to him."

I shot a quizzical look to the doctor, and he dipped his head, aware that he had a lot of explaining to do. Huang is nice enough, and a pretty neat guy, but every time that I meet him, he has these bizarre doctorish ideas that usually involve…..me. I wondered what he had cooked up for me this time

"We have nothing on Rodriguez, enough to arrest him, but only enough to get him a D felony. And that's even shaky." He said, meeting my gaze, "All the evidence of his past crimes before you were with us was destroyed when his home base toppeled in the raid last year. It's a bizarre case, I'm sure you know that. My people are looking desperately for any scrap of evidence that can hold him."

"Where do I fit into this?" I asked, wearily. I knew that by, 'our people' Huang meant the FBI. And yes, I did know what a bizarre case this was. There was a file on my father on every criminal computer ever made, but no evidence. Witnesses would conveniently die before a trial, or go missing. Evidence bags had a habit of disappearing. My father was a slippery man, and if the NYPD was going to put him up in a jail overnight for disturbing the peace, then they sure as heck were going to take that opportunity to dump a crapload of other stuff on him.

"How are we going to do this, Huang?" Munch asked just as the doctor was going to open his mouth to speak to me.

"Without a lawyer!" Someone called from the other end of the hall. We all turned as one, and there was the Captain, striding purposefully towards us, "Come on, you people know that this isn't going to stay quiet for long, and Rodriguez knows the system as well as we do. I want this done as quickly as possible, and with the least amount of fuss. Tread carefully, kids."

He came to a halt, and giving everyone present the evil eye.

"Don't we always?" Elliot quipped softly, glancing at Olivia.

"No, you do not!" Cragen was steamed, and I could see why. This was probably the most infamous criminal that SVU had ever gotten their hands on, and there wasn't any evidence to hold him, save for roughhousing and getting drunk outside of a bar, and I had a feeling that whatever stuck-up defensive lawyer who got this case would even question an arrest for that!

"As I was saying.." Huang took a deep breath, "Elliot and Olivia have already tried talking to him, and nothing is working. It seems that he has put up quite a mental block for himself, not even I can get past it."

"And you want me to try?" I had a hard time keeping all that raw skepticism out of my voice, "George, I still have nightmares about what this guy did to me! You want to see scars? I will show you scars!"

I was actually making to roll up my sleeve, when Huang put up his hands in defense, a mild expression on his face that I couldn't read.

"I know, Darlene, I know. Rogriduez is so used to getting his own way with everything, with being in power that he can swiftly demolish anything that any of us throw at him. But you…"

I laughed, "Me? I you think that I can get to him? Your joking."

"I am not." Huang said, "But it's the truth. You are a ghost from his past, as well as he is one from yours. I have a feeling that if you go in there and keep your cool, that it'll get under his skin more than anything I could say."

"It's your call, Darlene." Cragen said softly, "I am not going to make you do this if you don't want to, you can count on that."

We all stood there in silence, everyone else looking at me while I mulled it over. What Huang said was probably true, but I was still so buried in memories of the past that I don't know if I would be able to pull it off.

"Alright, I'll do it." I said in one breath, "I but I want someone to go in with me."

"I will." Elliot and Olivia said at once. They glanced at each other, then back at me.

"No." Cragen spoke up again, the final voice of reason, "I want Fin to go in. You two have had your shots at him, and I don't think that I can bear watching you get blown out of the water again."

"Captain-" Elliot started, but he cut him off.

"You heard what I said. Fin..Roscamp.."

I nodded, then took a look over at Fin. He was still looking at me with a mixture of pity, and understanding. Yeah, Fin has seen more of what I've gone through than any one else there.

"Alright, kid." He grunted, patting me on the back, "You ready?"

I jammed my hands in my pockets as Fin placed his other hand on the door handle, "As I'll ever be."


End file.
